The Honolulu Police Department is reviewing a controversial policy
that requires legal marijuana patients to turn in their firearms.

The reconsideration follows community backlash since the Honolulu
Star-Advertiser reported earlier this week that HPD has sent letters
to at least 30 medical cannabis users who are permitted gun owners
telling them to surrender their firearms.

The new police chief, Susan Ballard, hasn't said what her position is
on the issue. HPD spokeswoman Michelle Yu said Ballard is reviewing
the policy.

COLUMBUS - One day after Ohio announced its choices for larger growing
sites that would fuel a fledgling medical marijuana industry, a legal
challenge was announced that could throw a wrench into the works.

Ironically, such a lawsuit would be filed by some of the chief players
behind 2015's failed ResponsibleOhio ballot initiative that would have
legalized marijuana for both medical and recreational use.

"Whether we end up with a license or we don't end up with a license,
that's not what this is about..." said Jimmy Gould, chairman and chief
executive of CannAscend Ohio. "I care that this process is broken. I
care that there should have been better oversight over this process,
and I care where this ends up....

Within weeks an estimated 150,000 Texas patients suffering from
untreatable epilepsy will have a new means of relief.

Cannabidiol (CBD), a form of medical marijuana, will finally be
delivered to patients who qualify under the state's very strict
guidelines. The CBD reduces or halts convulsive epileptic seizures but
doesn't get the patients stoned.

Right now, the treatment will be available only for certain epilepsy
patients, and it's highly controlled.

We believe availability should be expanded for treatment of other
conditions when there's evidence those patients can be helped. We urge
state lawmakers to begin work through the political and medical
hurdles now so they can make that happen when they meet in 13 months.

For centuries, people have used the kratom plant as a traditional
medicine for energy, alertness and pain relief.

It's typically either chewed or dried, ground and ingested in capsule,
smoked or served as tea.

The key psychoactive compounds that produce a "kratom high" are
mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine.

A low kratom dosage produces stimulant effects making people more
talkative, alert and energetic, according to a DEA fact sheet. At high
doses, kratom users can experience the drug's sedative effects, the
report shows.

People can buy kratom online and at head shops, vape shops and more
recently at kava bars that serve herbal drinks.

As more states lessen or eliminate marijuana penalties, the Army is
granting hundreds of waivers to enlist people who used the drug in
their youth - as long as they realize they can't do so again in the
military.

The number of waivers granted by the active-duty Army for marijuana
use jumped to more than 500 this year from 191 in 2016. Three years
ago, no such waivers were granted. The big increase is just one way
officials are dealing with orders to expand the Army's size.

Maryland began the sale of medical marijuana to residents in pain on
Friday, ending years of delays by embarking on a program that features
some of the most liberal policies in the nation on who can qualify for
the prescribed cannabis.

Dozens of people stood outside a licensed dispensary in Montgomery
County, Potomac Holistics, where owners began making sales soon after
receiving their first shipment Friday afternoon.

"You can tell there's a buzz, and we're excited for so many reasons,"
Askinazi said. "We're giving care to people who need it."

Two Republicans representing Morris County in Trenton want to 'put
breaks' on legalization of marijuana by governor-elect.

Two Republicans representing Morris County in Trenton are pushing back
against the promise by Governor-elect Phil Murphy to sign a bill
legalizing marijuana in the first 100 days of his administration.

Murphy and the Democratic majorities in the Senate and Assembly have
said they want marijuana legalized in early 2018, which could generate
up to $300 million in annual taxes to the state.

Last March, I wrote Congressman Seth Moulton asking him to become a
co-sponsor of H.R. 975, the "Respect State Marijuana Laws Act." He
responded that, "The federal government ought to respect the will of
the voters in states like Massachusetts, Colorado and Washington that
have approved marijuana legalization."

Yet, instead of signing on as a co-sponsor, he chooses to leave
federal enforcement up to Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Mr. Sessions
understands the proper roles of Congress and his office. He stated at
his confirmation hearing, "I think one obvious concern is that the
United States Congress made the possession of marijuana in every state
and the distribution of it an illegal act. If that's something that's
not desired any longer, Congress should pass a law to change the rule.
It is not the attorney general's job to decide what laws to enforce.
We should do our job and enforce laws effectively as we are able."

By "able," he is referring to budgetary constraints of attempting to
enforce federal prohibition of a plant that grows in every state.

Mr. Moulton, leaders lead. Get off the fence and sponsor the
legislation.

When a rising Chinese American power broker became a partner in a
proposed cannabis dispensary in San Francisco's Outer Sunset, he knew
it would hit resistance.

But David Ho sees himself as the perfect emissary to the mostly older
Chinese residents and merchants who are deeply skeptical of the pot
trade.

"I'm the working-class, westside Asian American story," said Ho, who
is a co-owner of the Barbary Coast medical cannabis dispensary that
has applied to open at 2161 Irving St., on a block lined with grocery
stores, dry cleaning shops and banks.

A DeLand police officer was fired, another suspended without pay and a
third reprimanded this month after they lost methamphetamine collected
as evidence at a home over the summer, Internal Affairs documents show.

Officers Michael Mirino, John Rutherford and Thomas Gillan responded
to a home on July 14 to stand by as members of Probation and Parole
searched the Lazy River Lane home of Cameron Rando, 19, who was on
probation for grand theft and burglary of an unoccupied dwelling
according to reports released this week.

For 17 years, Chalfonte LeNee Queen suffered periodic episodes of
violent retching and abdominal pain that would knock her off her feet
for days, sometimes leaving her writhing on the floor in pain.

"I've screamed out for death," said Queen, 48, who lives in San Diego.
"I've cried out for my mom who's been dead for 20 years, mentally not
realizing she can't come to me."

Queen lost a modeling job after being mistaken for an alcoholic. She
racked up tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills, and her
nausea interrupted her sex life. Towards the end of her illness,
Queen, who stands 5-foot-9, weighed in at a frail 109 pounds.

NEW YORK -- It was a telling setting for a decision on whether
post-traumatic stress disorder patients could use medical marijuana.

Against the backdrop of the nation's largest Veterans Day parade,
Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced this month he'd sign
legislation making New York the latest in a fast-rising tide of states
to OK therapeutic pot as a PTSD treatment, though it's illegal under
federal law and doesn't boast extensive, conclusive medical research.

Twenty-eight states plus the District of Columbia now include PTSD in
their medical marijuana programs, a tally that has more than doubled
in the last two years, according to data compiled by the
pro-legalization Marijuana Policy Project. A 29th state, Alaska,
doesn't incorporate PTSD in its medical marijuana program but allows
everyone over 20 to buy pot legally.

There's hardly a more receptive or captive audience for marketing an
intoxicant than the beleaguered commuters crowded onto a rush-hour
Muni bus (except perhaps the ones packed onto a rush-hour BART train).
But unlike many of the dopey regulations proliferating ahead of
California's legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes in
2018, Muni's decision to ban cannabis advertising makes sense.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency's board voted
Tuesday to ban recreational marijuana advertising and stop accepting
medical marijuana ads once current contracts expire. The policy is in
keeping with Muni's refusal of alcohol, tobacco and firearms
advertising in light of the number of children who ride city buses and
trains. It's also in line with statewide regulations that prohibit
cannabis advertising that targets children or reaches audiences with
large numbers of young people.

Proponents of legalized marijuana in New Jersey are lining up in the
aftermath of Phil Murphy's election as governor, anticipating
no-questions-asked pot sales to adults by late next year with an ally
in the governor's office.

Murphy has named the head of a marijuana trade group as his chief of
staff, and a new association for marijuana retailers has formed. The
governor-elect vowed during his campaign to legalize the drug, and the
growing industry is counting on him to quickly make good on the pledge.

An Indiana high school teacher was arrested on drug charges Wednesday
after her students said they saw her using cocaine in her classroom.

Lake Central High School junior Will Rogers told WGN9 he shot video of
the incident through a classroom window.

"She's in the corner, hiding with a chair and a book and what appears
to be cocaine, putting it into lines," Rogers told the TV station.
"When I actually watched the footage again and again and I just
realized that my english teacher just did cocaine."

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- A Michigan judge has thrown out a case against
two former corrections officers who lost their jobs after being
arrested and charged with possession of marijuana-infused butter.

Michael Frederick and Todd VanDoorne were charged in 2014 following an
early-morning, warrant-less search of their homes. Both were
registered under the state's medical marijuana law to use the butter
to control pain. Police allege they didn't comply with the law. They
subsequently lost their jobs in Kent County.

The Cannabis Control Commission is pushing to write a first draft of
new rules permitting the legal sale of marijuana in Massachusetts by
the end of the year, setting up a frenetic month that will shape the
recreational pot industry.

The commission announced Tuesday that it plans to file initial
regulations by Dec. 29. Among numerous details, they will spell out
the criteria for winning dispensary licenses, rules for marijuana
consumption bars, and a plan for ensuring diversity in the industry.

In this divided nation, we should be able to at least find common
cause in the fight to stop and treat opioid addiction, a scourge that
knows no single identity, and that does not respect geographic
boundaries or common socio-economic factors. This is a fight we must
all take up, arm in arm, because in one way or another it affects all
Americans.

Indeed, the more we know about this menace to our national health, the
worse it seems. According to a new analysis released by the Trump
White House, the opioid addiction crisis may already be much worse
than previously thought. According to the White House Council of
Economic Advisers, the true cost of the crisis, as of 2015, stands at
$504 billion, a figure more than six times the most recent estimate.

Opioid overdoses are killing two people in Washington each day, and
Attorney General Bob Ferguson on Tuesday urged legislation that will
limit new legal opioid prescriptions and monitor those receiving the
drug.

The extent of the state's opioid epidemic was outline in a report
released by the AG's office, the Washington State Patrol and the
Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, detailing its legal
and illegal roots.

It urges action on prescription opioids, "often the source of initial
exposure to opioids."

BOSTON - Genuine debate on marijuana policy and how the legal pot
industry should look in Massachusetts is likely coming from the
Cannabis Control Commission during the middle two weeks of December,
which are shaping up to be the CCC's busiest yet as the agency tries
to file the first draft of its regulations by Dec. 29.

The CCC has tentatively penciled in public meetings for policy
discussion and debate on the draft regulations each day of the week of
Dec. 11, chairman Steven Hoffman said Tuesday. The following week will
begin with three days of private stakeholder meetings and then at
least one public meeting for the CCC to vote on acceptance of the
draft regulations.

LAS VEGAS -- For Hilary Dulany, long roots in Michigan and the
prospect of expanding her Oregon marijuana business are luring her
back to the Great Lakes State.

For Nancy Whiteman, the prospect of taking her business national has
her looking for partners in Michigan.

For the two women and many other entrepreneurs attending the MJ Biz
Conference in Las Vegas last week -- the pre-eminent conference where
18,500 professionals looking to get into the cannabis industry
gathered -- the common thread was Michigan's soon-to-explode marijuana
business.

What if Pennsylvania had a medical marijuana program but few people
knew about it?

With hundreds of millions of dollars invested in cannabis growing
facilities and dispensaries -- and the health of thousands of
prospective patients on the line -- alerting state residents to the
program should be a priority. But there's effectively a gag order on
nearly all players involved.

The state Department of Health, responsible for the program's
roll-out, has no budget to pay for advertising. Marijuana growers,
processors and dispensaries are prohibited by law from actively
promoting their wares. And doctors who write recommendations for
medical cannabis are forbidden from publicizing that they're
participating.

Stateline, a project of the Pew Charitable Trusts, provides daily
reporting and analysis on trends in state policy.

When Californians voted to legalize marijuana last year, they also
voted to let people petition courts to reduce or hide convictions for
past marijuana crimes. State residents can now petition courts to
change some felonies to misdemeanors, change some misdemeanors to
infractions, and wipe away convictions for possessing or growing small
amounts of the drug.

"We call it reparative justice: repairing the harms caused by the war
on drugs," says Eunisses Hernandez of the Drug Policy Alliance, a
nonprofit advocacy group that helped write the California ballot initiative.

A case report about the seizure and death of an 11-month-old after
exposure to cannabis has prompted headlines about "the first marijuana
overdose death" this week.

Except that's not what the doctors meant.

"We are absolutely not saying that marijuana killed that child," said
Thomas Nappe, an author of the report who is now the director of
medical toxicology at St. Luke's University Health Network in
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Nappe, who co-authored the report with Christopher Hoyte, explained
that the doctors simply observed this unusual sequence of events,
documented it and alerted the medical community that it is worth
studying a possible relationship between cannabis and the child's
cause of death, myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart muscle.

VICTORVILLE - San Bernardino County Sheriff's Deputies seized 3,475
marijuana plants after serving search warrants at four High Desert
locations Friday, the agency announced Saturday.

All of the marijuana grows were not in compliance with the California
medical marijuana law or other ordinances, the sheriff's department
said in a statement.

At three of the four locations investigators found that the illegal
growers had tampered with the main power lines at residences to bypass
the electrical meters installed by the utility company, allowing the
theft of electricity needed to operate equipment used to grow marijuana.

Sarasota-based medical marijuana company AltMed Florida is poised to
begin growing its first crop of marijuana at a facility in Apollo Beach.

The Florida Department of Health authorized Plants of Ruskin -- the
nursery that is partnering with AltMed -- to begin operating the
cultivation facility.

"We have worked diligently to build what we believe will be the
most advanced indoor cultivation facility in Florida, and one of the
finest in the country," AltMed CEO John Tipton said in a press
release Monday.

Last March, I wrote Congressman Seth Moulton asking him to become a
co-sponsor of H.R. 975, the "Respect State Marijuana Laws Act." He
responded that, "The federal government ought to respect the will of
the voters in states like Massachusetts, Colorado and Washington that
have approved marijuana legalization."

Yet, instead of signing on as a co-sponsor, he chooses to leave
federal enforcement up to Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Mr. Sessions
understands the proper roles of Congress and his office. He stated at
his confirmation hearing, "I think one obvious concern is that the
United States Congress made the possession of marijuana in every state
and the distribution of it an illegal act. If that's something
that's not desired any longer, Congress should pass a law to change
the rule. It is not the attorney general's job to decide what laws
to enforce. We should do our job and enforce laws effectively as we
are able." By "able" he is referring to budgetary constraints of
attempting to enforce federal prohibition of a plant that grows in
every state.

Mr. Moulton, leaders lead. Get off the fence and sponsor the
legislation.

State Sen. Scott Wiener, who has adopted the cannabis industry as one
of his major concerns, is taking aim at new state regulations for
recreational marijuana that will allow for big growing operations in
California.

"By not limiting the amount of land that can be cultivated by any one
operation, we are basically inviting mega industrial-scale operations
into the state," the San Francisco Democrat said. "It will squeeze out
the small farmers that have been at the forefront of the industry for
many, many years."

The Sacramento City Council on Tuesday approved funding sources for
increased law enforcement against illegal indoor pot grows, following
a two-month pilot program that led to the closure of 614 pot houses.

The city expects to spend between $700,000 and $1.1 million on police
efforts to stop the approximately 1,000 illegal grows in Sacramento
houses in the fiscal year ending June 30.

The city will pay those costs with tax revenue collected from legal
marijuana businesses, which are expected to start operating sometime
after Jan. 1, when adults can purchase pot for recreational use
statewide. The city plans to supplement that tax revenue with
administrative fines collected from illegal pot growers.

ALBANY - New Yorkers who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder
will now be able to use medical marijuana as a form of treatment.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a law Saturday that added PTSD to the list of
conditions eligible for medical marijuana in New York.

"As of today, marijuana will be legalized if a doctor authorizes and
finds the condition of PTSD for a veteran, and I think that can help
thousands of veterans. It's something that we've been talking about
for a long time, and I'm glad we're taking action," Cuomo said.

Demonized for decades, marijuana remains controversial even on the
brink of its statewide legalization - and even in pot-friendly
strongholds such as San Francisco. The city is one of many still
debating local regulations that will either embrace an overdue retreat
from the drug war or effectively prolong the failed policy at the
neighborhood level.

For vacillating municipal officials, some context is in order. This
week alone, New Jersey and Virginia voters resoundingly elected
gubernatorial candidates promising to liberalize marijuana policy;
Constellation Brands, a Fortune 500 seller of many popular wine and
beer brands, was reported to have bought a nearly $200 million stake
in a Canadian cannabis company; and California's attorney general
approved signature-gathering for a ballot measure to legalize
psilocybin mushrooms.

A citizens committee in Colton has launched an initiative to regulate
and tax local cannabis cultivation, manufacturing and distribution in
order to generate millions of dollars in revenue for law enforcement,
schools and public safety programs.

The Committee for Safer Neighborhoods and Schools recently filed its
proposed marijuana ordinance with the city and will soon begin
gathering signatures for placement on the 2018 ballot.

Meanwhile, the Colton City Council awaits a drafted ordinance of
potential regulations recommended by a committee of city leaders and
other representatives.

When 74 percent of San Francisco voters last year backed legalizing
the adult recreational use of marijuana statewide, the idea was to
make it easier to buy and smoke pot - a substance that has never been
that hard to buy or smoke in San Francisco anyway.

Tell that to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

The Keystone Cops of Cannabis have spent countless hours over endless
committee meetings in recent weeks, devising ways to dramatically
limit where people can buy and sell marijuana once the substance
becomes legal for recreational use statewide on Jan. 1.

A global credit rating agency says taxes on recreational marijuana in
California could reach 45 percent in some places, high enough to keep
the thriving black market in business despite legalization.

The report by Fitch Ratings, "Local Taxes May Challenge Cannabis
Legalization in California," warns that state and local taxes may
combine to threaten the government revenue expected from the sale of
legalized cannabis and cannabis products. The recreational use of the
drug will be legal in California starting Jan. 1 under Proposition 64,
the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act, passed by
voters last November.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Supervisors in famously pot-friendly San
Francisco are under pressure from cannabis advocates to pass
regulations that would allow the industry to flourish once
recreational sales become legal throughout California in January.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is scheduled to take up
proposed regulations Tuesday, when they may vote on a stop-gap measure
to allow the sale of recreational cannabis through existing medical
marijuana outlets on Jan. 1. That would give them time to figure out
where to allow new stores.

(HealthDay News) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday
issued an advisory about harms tied to kratom -- an imported herbal
supplement with opioid-like effects that is increasing in popularity.

People are taking the unapproved supplement to treat conditions like
pain, anxiety and depression -- without medical supervision, FDA
Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said in a statement. Others use kratom
for its euphoric effects, or to wean addicts off opioids such as
prescription painkillers or heroin, also without medical say-so.

San Francisco is having a surprisingly difficult time establishing
regulations for the broad legal pot market, thanks in part to
criticism from older Chinese immigrants who oppose marijuana use.

Divided San Francisco supervisors are scheduled to take up the issue
at a board meeting Tuesday, where they may vote on a stop-gap measure
to allow the sale of recreational cannabis through existing medical
marijuana outlets on Jan. 1 as they continue to figure out where to
allow new stores.

The possibility of overly strict regulations has businesses fretting
over access and some San Franciscans wondering what happened to the
counter-culture, anti-Prohibition city they know and love. The smell
of cannabis being smoked is not uncommon in certain neighborhoods and
parks.

WASHINGTON -- Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine joined 43 other state
attorneys general to ask Congress to repeal a law they argue has
damaged the Drug Enforcement Agency's ability to crack down on drug
manufacturers and distributors that have contributed to the nation's
sweeping opioid epidemic.

In a letter Tuesday to House and Senate leadership, the attorneys
general argue that a bill passed by voice vote in 2016 made it more
difficult for the DEA to take action against drug companies that were
flooding communities with prescription painkillers.

Palm Beach County's first medical marijuana dispensary is now open for
business.

At noon Tuesday, Knox Medical opened the center at 1 South Dixie
Highway in Lake Worth, across the street from Lake Worth City Hall.

The dispensary occupies a former bank building in downtown Lake Worth,
and the interior resembles a dentist or doctor's office. Patients
check in at the foyer and then can proceed to a room with glass
display cases showcasing Knox Medical's products.

Knox Medical CEO Jose Javier Hidalgo said the new dispensary will
improve access to medical cannabis for everyone in South Florida.

A proposed deal to cut through San Francisco's cannabis debate and
allow existing medical dispensaries to sell recreational pot on Jan. 1
could put a choke hold on the industry, two former supervisors said
Tuesday.

Scott Wiener and David Campos, who formed an unlikely partnership to
intervene in the city's cannabis legislation, blasted the proposal by
Supervisor Aaron Peskin hours before it went to the full board.

Peskin's idea of granting recreational permits to the city's 46
existing pot businesses, when coupled with zoning rules that other
supervisors have introduced to keep the pot trade out of their
neighborhoods, would create a monopoly for those already in business,
Wiener and Campos said.

Federal agents arrested a Philadelphia police officer Tuesday,
accusing him of conspiring with officers in Baltimore to sell cocaine
and heroin seized from that city's streets.

Prosecutors say that Eric Troy Snell, 33, earned thousands of dollars
serving as a conduit between corrupt members of a Baltimore police
task force who stole the drugs and his brother, who sold them in
Philadelphia.

Investigators also have accused Snell of threatening the children of a
Baltimore officer who pleaded guilty in the case.

Regarding your editorial "High on Incentives" (Nov. 2): After the 21st
Amendment lifting prohibition in 1933, the excise tax rate on alcohol
was adjusted down to around 5% to undercut moonshiners and to
eliminate any continuing profit for the mob. Later, the excise tax
rate was adjusted up to approximately 15%. Mentor Capital's elasticity
analysis of the cannabis tax load in various locales versus illegal
marijuana-market activity shows a roughly inverse linear relationship.
That is if the tax rate is 45%, the illegal market will be 45% of the
whole cannabis market.

In July, the Food and Drug Administration took the important step of
approving two final-phase clinical trials to determine whether a party
drug that has long been on the Drug Enforcement Administration's
Schedule I list of banned substances could be used to treat a
psychiatric condition that afflicts millions. The drug is MDMA, a
psychedelic commonly known as Ecstasy, previously deemed to have "no
currently accepted medical use." The trials aim to determine whether
the drug is, as earlier trials have suggested, a safe and effective
treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, when combined with
psychotherapy.